GDCC will invest $80 million in Lyndra’s therapies to address patients’ needs and improve health outcomes in the rapidly growing Chinese market

WATERTOWN, Mass., April 27, 2018 – Lyndra Inc., an emerging biopharmaceutical company, today announced the formation of a joint venture with the Global Drug Commercialization Center (GDCC) to commercialize Lyndra’s groundbreaking medicines in China. The partners held a public ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Lyndra (China) headquarters in Chengdu, China.

Lyndra is developing ultra-long-acting oral therapies that free patients of the need to take daily medications and drastically improve healthcare outcomes.

“The world has lifesaving and life-changing therapies that, for a host of reasons, people just do not take regularly,” Lyndra Co-founder and CEO Amy Schulman said. “At Lyndra, we are deeply committed to making a difference in how people get well. We want to reduce the struggle patients and caregivers face with daily pills. Our ultra-long-acting medicines can ease the burden of medication compliance and simplify the day-to-day challenges of chronic conditions. We are excited to partner with GDCC to bring these benefits across the globe.”

With the creation of this joint venture, the GDCC will invest $80 million for development of products tailored to meet the needs of the rapidly growing Chinese market. China is the world’s second-biggest pharmaceuticals market after the U.S., with more than one billion inhabitants and an aging population. The GDCC is the drug development and marketing affiliate in China of Quark Venture and the Global Health Sciences Fund, and made its first Series A investment in Lyndra just over a year ago.

“We are excited to continue to advance our partnership with Lyndra,” said Ms. Karimah Es Sabar, CEO of GDCC and Quark Venture. “We have been astounded by the pace at which the company has been able to advance this technology. Through our new joint venture in China, we will be able to further expedite the development of this platform and bring new solutions to an old problem of patient compliance, significantly improving patient outcomes.”

The Lyndra platform is based on technology developed in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Langer, a Lyndra co-founder, said, “Our ambition is to provide new medicines that patients take weekly instead of daily, with the expectation of significantly improving adherence and overall outcomes. These benefits can be especially valuable in countries like China with large populations and rising health care needs.”

This joint venture marks the first of Dr. Langer’s companies to enter the Chinese market. Lyndra Board Chair Catherine Reynolds heralded the deal as an extraordinary step for a company of Lyndra’s size. “We are honored that GDCC believes in our vision and our unique competencies, and we are thrilled to expand our reach across the globe.”

About 50 percent of patients – in some cases more – do not take their medications regularly. Nonadherence is an epidemic that causes at least 10 percent of hospitalizations and 125,000 deaths a year in the U.S. alone. It costs the U.S. health system nearly $300 billion annually, more than any actual disease.1 And it can be 100 percent preventable.

Studies indicate that adherence to weekly or monthly medication schedules is significantly higher than to daily schedules.2 This increased adherence translates to greatly improved outcomes and better quality of life for patients and caregivers. Longer-acting doses also improve the pharmacokinetic profile, reducing side effects and increasing drug efficacy.

About Lyndra
Lyndra aims to transform the way patients take medicines through the development of ultra-long-acting, sustained-release oral therapies that drastically improve health outcomes. Our team is developing pills that last a week or longer, and that provide a wide range of medicines in a familiar capsule form. Once inside the stomach, the capsule dissolves and releases a star-shaped pill that delivers steady amounts of medicine for seven days or more.

Lyndra’s ultra-long-acting pills address the epidemic of non-adherence by removing the burden of daily pills. Benefits include greatly improved health outcomes and quality of life, and reduced health costs. Lyndra’s dosage form also improves the pharmacokinetic profile, which reduces side effects and improves drug efficacy.

Lyndra Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Watertown, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.lyndra.com and follow the company on Twitter @LyndraInc.

About Quark Venture
Quark Venture invests in innovative biotechnology and health technology companies and supports them with its expertise in bioscience commercialization and equity financing. The company’s strategic focus is global investments in disruptive platforms and technologies impacting human health. Through its China affiliate, Global Drug Commercialization Center (GDCC), Quark’s leading-edge Development Centre and SME Accelerator in China helps small- and medium-size enterprises successfully access the China market, grow, innovate and bring better health outcomes to millions of people. Quark Venture partners with scientific and commercial thought leaders across the globe. For more information visit www.quarkventure.com